Search

• Afforestation is affecting widespread sampling deficiency in plant collections. • The big data map the potential artificial and naturals tree coverage of the historical and revisited records of Engelhardia. • The afforestation on historical distribution of recorded plants is blinded by the bright. Against the background of climate change, the booming afforestation is the most effective strategy for climate change mitigation. Also, the rise of the economic forests can bring benefits to eliminate poverty from economic growth. However, it's worth noting that afforestation is affecting widespread sampling deficiency in plant collections. Here, we used the big data to map the potential artificial and naturals tree coverage of the historical and revisited records of Engelhardia. The results show that new collections localities have been discovered in areas with natural forest coverage; on average, the disappearance of recorded localities are likely to be related the increasing artificial forests. Our results highlight the disappearance of recorded species and/or shifts of the biodiversity patterns are blinded by the bright that photosynthetic carbon captured by the afforestation for climate change and the economic values to reduce regional poverty by the economic forests. Therefore, the natural forests are necessary to be valued in biodiversity, ecology and evolution. Also, our study provides insight into the impact of afforestation on historical distribution of recorded plants, which are essential to sustain ecological restoration programs, and will improve ecological managements and policies with the rise of artificial forests across the world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Quaternary climatic oscillations appear to have influenced the genetic diversity and evolutionary history of arid-adapted plants. To understand the processes involved and reveal evolutionary relationships, haplotypes were examined from Calligonum roborovskii, an endemic species occurring in the arid zones across the desert regions of north-western China, and seven other species also from Calligonum section Medusa, including C. gobicum, C. mongolicum and the narrow endemic species C. ebi-nuricum, C. pumilum, C. taklimakanense, C. trifarium and C. yengisaricum. Forty-three haplotypes were identified in 422 individuals from 51 natural populations, from variation of two plastid DNA intergenic spacers ( rpl32- trnL and ycf6- psbM). A high level of total genetic diversity was found across species for which more than two populations were examined, including C. gobicum, C. mongolicum, C. pumilum and C. roborovskii. A distinct isolation-by-distance pattern in each of these species was suggested by the Mantel test, indicating that restricted gene flow caused high genetic differentiation among populations. Three haplotypes were shared by two or three species each, but the other 40 haplotypes were species-specific. The 43 haplotypes split into three major clades, but not species-specific lineages; most of the Calligonum species were not reciprocally monophyletic, probably due to incomplete lineage sorting or introgression. The identified haplotypes were dated to 1.97 Mya (95% highest posterior density: 2.95-0.99 Mya) and diverged until the late Pleistocene, possibly linked to aridification and enlargement of deserts caused by climate changes. Variation of desert habitats during the Pleistocene might play a key role in causing the divergence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Myricaria consists of about twelve-thirteen species and occurs in Eurasian North Temperate zone, most species in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau (QTP) and adjacent areas. Methodology/Principal Findings: Twelve species of Myricaria plus two other genera Tamarix and Reaumuria in Tamaricaceae, were sampled, and four markers, ITS, rps16, psbB-psbH, and trnL-trnF were sequenced. The relaxed Bayesian molecular clock BEAST method was used to perform phylogenetic analysis and molecular dating, and Diva, S-Diva, and maximum likelihood Lagrange were used to estimate the ancestral area. The results indicated that Myricaria could be divided into four phylogenetic clades, which correspond to four sections within the genus, of them two are newly described in this paper. The crown age of Myricaria was dated to early Miocene ca. 20 Ma, at the probable early uplifting time of the Himalayas. The Himalayas were also shown as the center of origin for Myricaria from the optimization of ancestral distribution. Migration and dispersal of Myricaria were indicated to have taken place along the Asian Mountains, including the Himalayas, Kunlun, Altun, Hendukosh, Tianshan, Altai, and Caucasus etc., westward to Europe, eastward to Central China, and northward to the Mongolian Plateau. Conclusions/Significance: Myricaria spatiotemporal evolution presented here, especially the Himalayan origin at early Miocene ca. 20 Ma, and then migrated westward and eastward along the Asian mountains, offers a significant evolutionary case for QTP and Central Asian biogeography. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To examine diagnostic characters and test phylogenetic relationships between Salsola arbusculiformis and the closely similar S. laricifolia, characters were examined from previous reports and herbarium specimens, and sequences of nrDNA ITS and cpDNA psbB- psbH were compared for these species as well as other representative taxa of Salsoleae. Our results 1) confirm most of the morphological differences highlighted in previous studies, such as those of leaf size, bracts, bracteoles, style, fruiting perianth, and anther appendages; 2) show that S. arbusculiformis is a typical Irano-Turanian species, mainly distributed from Iran and Turkmenistan to westernmost China (Tacheng, Ili, and Bole regions, Xinjiang), while S. laricifolia is a central Asian floristic element mainly distributed from east Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan to northern China (north Xinjiang, inner Mongolia, Ningxia and Gansu provinces), and Mongolia; and 3) strongly support their sister relationship, with samples from five different populations clustering together for each of the two species. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Engelhardia , a genus of Juglandaceae (the walnut family), is endemic to tropical and subtropical Asia. The rich Cenozoic fossil records and distinctive morphological characters of the living plants have been used to explore the evolutionary history and geographic distribution of Juglandaceae. However, the taxonomy of this genus has been suffered from a lack of in-depth investigation and good specimens across its distribution ranges. Species delimitation of Engelhardia was defined with seven species in 2020, but detailed information on the circumscription of the species still remains poorly understood. In this study, two new species are described from Sulawesi and Borneo, Engelhardia anminiana and E. borneensis . We also revised and reconstructed the phylogeny within Engelhardia using morphological, molecular (plastid and ribosomal), and distribution data. We sampled 787 individuals in 80 populations, and all the samples were genotyped using plastid regions, trn S- trn G, rps 16, trn L- trn F, psb A- trn H, and rpl 32- trn L; one ribosomal region, nuclear ribosomal internal transcribed spacer (nrITS). The all datasets were used to reconstruct the phylogenetic relationships. Then, the molecular analyses were combined for 738 sheets of specimens with 15 morphological characteristics to further explore the morphological clusters of Engelhardia . Cluster analysis using morphological data confirmed the delimitation of nine Engelhardia species. Also, phylogenetic analysis based on molecular data (i.e., plastid and ribosomal) supported the monophyly of Engelhardia and generated phylogenetic trees that included E. fenzelii , E. roxburghiana , E. borneensis , E. hainanensis , E. anminiana , E. serrata , E. villosa , E. apoensis and the varieties of E. spicata (i.e., E. spicata var. spicata , E. spicata var. rigida , E. spicata var. aceriflora , and E. spicata var. colebrookeana ). Our comprehensive taxonomic revision of Engelhardia will provide an insight into understanding the plant diversity in tropical and subtropical Asia., Competing Interests: We declare that we do not have any commercial or associative interest that represents a conflict of interest in connection with the work submitted., (© 2022 Kunming Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences. Publishing services by Elsevier B.V. on behalf of KeAi Communications Co. Ltd.)

Enhanced efficacy in species delimitation is critically important in biology given the pending biodiversity crisis under global warming and anthropogenic activity. In particular, delineation of traditional classifications in view of the complexity of species requires an integrative approach to effectively define species boundaries, and this is a major focus of systematic biology. Here, we explored species delimitation of Engelhardia in tropical and subtropical Asia. In total, 716 individuals in 71 populations were genotyped using five chloroplast regions, one nuclear DNA region (nrITS), and 11 nuclear simple sequence repeats (nSSR). Phylogenetic trees were constructed and relationships among species were assessed. Molecular analyses were then combined with 14 morphological characteristics of 720 specimens to further explore the species boundaries of Engelhardia. Integrating phylogenetic and morphological clusters provided well-resolved relationships to delineate seven species. The results suggested that: first, that E. fenzelii, E. roxburghiana, E. hainanensis, E. apoensis, and E. serrata are distinct species; second, E. spicata var. spicata, E. spicata var. aceriflora, E. spicata var. colebrookeana, and E. rigida should be combined under E. spicata and treated as a species complex; third, E. serrata var. cambodica should be raised to species level and named E. villosa. We illuminated that bias thresholds determining the cluster number for delimiting species boundaries were substantially reduced when morphological data were incorporated. Our results urge caution when using the concepts of subspecies and varieties in order to prevent confusion, particularly with respect to species delimitation for tropical and subtropical species. In some cases, re-ranking or combining subspecies and/or varieties may enable more accurate species delimitation., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2020 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Background: Given that most species that have ever existed on earth are extinct, it stands to reason that the evolutionary history can be better understood with fossil taxa. Bauhinia is a typical genus of pantropical intercontinental disjunction among the Asian, African, and American continents. Geographic distribution patterns are better recognized when fossil records and molecular sequences are combined in the analyses. Here, we describe a new macrofossil species of Bauhinia from the Upper Miocene Xiaolongtan Formation in Wenshan County, Southeast Yunnan, China, and elucidate the biogeographic significance through the analyses of molecules and fossils., Results: Morphometric analysis demonstrates that the leaf shapes of B. acuminata, B. championii, B. chalcophylla, B. purpurea, and B. podopetala closely resemble the leaf shapes of the new finding fossil. Phylogenetic relationships among the Bauhinia species were reconstructed using maximum parsimony and Bayesian inference, which inferred that species in Bauhinia species are well-resolved into three main groups. Divergence times were estimated by the Bayesian Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) method under a relaxed clock, and inferred that the stem diversification time of Bauhinia was ca. 62.7 Ma. The Asian lineage first diverged at ca. 59.8 Ma, followed by divergence of the Africa lineage starting during the late Eocene, whereas that of the neotropical lineage starting during the middle Miocene., Conclusions: Hypotheses relying on vicariance or continental history to explain pantropical disjunct distributions are dismissed because they require mostly Palaeogene and older tectonic events. We suggest that Bauhinia originated in the middle Paleocene in Laurasia, probably in Asia, implying a possible Tethys Seaway origin or an "Out of Tropical Asia", and dispersal of legumes. Its present pantropical disjunction resulted from disruption of the boreotropical flora by climatic cooling after the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM). North Atlantic land bridges (NALB) seem the most plausible route for migration of Bauhinia from Asia to America; and additional aspects of the Bauhinia species distribution are explained by migration and long distance dispersal (LDD) from Eurasia to the African and American continents.